Wednesday, November 30, 2016

our christmas book advent

I love advent countdowns.

The decorative ones are so pretty and the ones for kids are just down right sweet. But confession - I've never really had my life together enough to fully pull one off. Even this decorative one from a few years back didn't come together until halfway through the month. And it was more a sweet little art piece than anything else.

But this year will be different!
This year it's going to happen!
How, you ask?

When a friend mentioned wrapping up a single Christmas book to read each night, I practically jumped for joy! Books! We read those each night! Christmas books! We have those too! Wrapping? So I can satisfy my kid's itch to open a gift too?? This is everything!!!

So the books... I decided I'd go from December 1st to the 25th. So 25 books was the magic number.

I knew we had our share of Christmas books because I keep a box of seasonal books and DVDs tucked away. I was really surprised to find 16 of them in there! We had all the classics. The Grinch. The Night Before Christmas. Rudolph. And several fun ones too!

I snagged a couple on a quick trip out the next day and then scored a few from my mom (a teacher!) to finish out my stash. The great thing about this is if you think it thru, you can use borrow books and even really inexpensive Golden Books. I also wanted to make sure I had several about the real Christmas story, since that's the true reason we celebrate.

When it came to setting them up for Jake to read each day, I also decided that I didn't want my selection to be completely random. I wanted to have a good variation throughout the days, and even a few specific books on a handful of nights - my most special nativity story on Christmas Day, the classic Night Before Christmas on Christmas Eve, etc. So I decided to tag the books with a number. It brings the countdown and advent full circle as well!

Ever the DIY efficienado, I was going to make the tags myself. But I stumbled upon the cutest, simple free set from Simple As That. Hellllloooo, my beauties!

The icing on top was the wrapping paper.
Jake was pretty dismayed last week when I bypassed the outer space Santa wrapping paper for some simple kraft paper with gold foil trees. And I felt a twinge of guilt for wanting my sweet neutral Christmas tree to look perfectly aesthetic with its packages and bows underneath.

But now! Now I had a reason to toss three rolls of Santa on Saturn into the cart!

I can't wait to start this Thursday night!

I think I'll also be pairing this bedtime ritual with this special advent coloring book. It includes a part of the nativity story each day and the Scripture reading that coincides. Perfect for reminding us of the Christ's birth each night!